


Bad Dream

by Lisgreomg



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-26
Updated: 2012-10-26
Packaged: 2017-11-17 01:48:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/546298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lisgreomg/pseuds/Lisgreomg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He's curled up in a ball outside the door to his parents bedroom when the call comes in that the Hale house is on fire.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bad Dream

**Author's Note:**

> This thing made me write it. It was honestly like being possessed. I was kind of scared. Let me know if you see any typos.
> 
> Sillystrings045 looked this over for me really quick. Thanks to her, this actually makes sense!
> 
> I got a lot of timeline stuff from the 'On Fire' book, but you don't have to read that for this to make sense.

Stiles can't sleep the night that his mother gets home from the hospital. No one has explained to him yet what the difference is between 'remission' and 'all better', but he's beginning to think they're not the same thing after all. His mom was still really tired all day yesterday, even if she did finally get to come out of the hospital. She goes up to bed really early, before dinner even. Stiles almost whines about this, because he misses eating with her, but she looks really tired. He stays quiet.

After dinner Dad goes up too, and Stiles makes sure to put the casserole dish in some warm water so that the cheese doesn't get stuck. It's Mrs. McCall's casserole dish. She keeps giving them food. Everyone brings them food.

The house is really super quiet, and Stiles's brain starts to go out of control a little, so he has to sit in the corner of the kitchen and stare at his hands for a while, breathing really carefully. When he's done he goes up to his room to work on his homework. He can't figure out the answer to a long division problem. He wants to ask his Mom, because she's really super awesome with math and explains it to him really well. But he knows he can't bother her while she's sleeping. He was going to ask her for help at dinner. He leaves the question blank. Mrs. Whippit is being very nice to him right now anyway. He'll probably still get the hundred. Maybe he can find away to get Lydia to tell him. She's a genius.

When he finishes the problems he does know he doesn't know what else to do. His brain is still going too fast, he knows he won't be able to sleep. But he can't make noise that'll wake Mom up and he can't stay up all night. His Dad makes that disappointing face when he stays up all night. Stiles hates that.

He watches the second hand move for a little while on his He-Man clock, before his breath starts going all funny again. No one will tell him what 'remission' really means. What if it doesn't mean 'all better'? What if it means she's dying? What if they let her out of the hospital because there's nothing else to do?

Stiles goes and sits in the corner again, and puts his face in his knees. He tries to breathe right. He can't be loud. He can't wake her up.

He doesn't know how long it is before he can breathe again, but his face is very wet. He might have been crying. A flash of anger bursts out of him and he has a sudden vision of screaming, throwing his stupid incomplete homework off his desk, shouting about how unfair this is - but she's sleeping.

After a while he gets over that anger, like he got over the funny breathing, and turns off his light. It's a little better in the dark. He still can't sleep though. He can hear his Dad snoring through the wall. It's comforting at first, but then he realizes he can't hear his Mom. He's moving before he fully realizes what his brain's plan is, and he slips out of his room into the hall, tiptoeing closer to their room. When he's close enough he can hear them both breathing, and the relief almost knocks him down.

He stands there for what feels like forever, and his brain finally starts to slow down. He breathes in and out, carefully. He doesn't want to go back to his room. He wants to go into their room, like he did when he was little and he'd had a bad dream. But he's old now. He's almost a grown-up. He knows he can't. Besides, the last time he'd hugged his Mom he'd hurt her. He hadn't meant to! But she got a bruise. It was probably the most awful thing he'd ever done.

He should stay out here where he can't hurt her again.

After a while the steady sounds of breathing make him sleepy, and he can't leave. He doesn't want to go back to his bed. He finally just curls up into a ball right on the floor, listening close as he can.

He falls asleep.

It's the phone that wakes him up. Kind of. He's not sure where he is for a little while until he hears his Dad's voice through the door, and his Mom's, softer.

He's just barely hears the words through the door. The Hale house is on fire.

He wonders who the Hales are, and hopes they'll be okay as he slips back into his room.


End file.
